


The Bad Day (Trademark Pending)

by skatzaa



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: And Anakin's Narrative Reflects That, Being A Teenager Sort Of Sucks, Even Without Adding Jedi Stuff Into It, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Post-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Pre-Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Tea, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 19:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skatzaa/pseuds/skatzaa
Summary: Obi-Wan is having one of his Bad Days. Anakin helps.





	The Bad Day (Trademark Pending)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pandora151](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora151/gifts).

> Hello, Pandora151! I really hope you enjoy this. All of your prompts were wonderful, but this is the one that spoke to me the most!
> 
> Anakin was really fun to write here. When I was his age, I had an older step-sister that I absolutely adored, even when she annoyed me, and I based a lot of his reactions on my relationship with her. He doesn't actually resent Obi-Wan for anything, he's just, well, a _teenager._

Anakin wakes up and promptly regrets every decision in his life that led to this moment.

_ Kark _ , his whole  _ body _ hurts!

He groans and rolls over, trying to check the chrono, but it’s hidden under a bunched-up robe that Anakin dropped and forgot to put away last night. Again.

_ Seriously _ , Obi-Wan must be out to get him; Anakin’s never met another padawan that has to practice katas for hours on end, not even allowed to move onto the ‘saber forms yet.

...Probably, he admits, because they learned the katas well enough to perform them in their sleep as initiates, and now, as padawans, they can focus on the  _ really _ cool stuff. Not that Obi-Wan doesn’t ever let him work on the forms—Makashi and Ataru are still off limits though—but it’s all, “ _ Ah _ nakin, you’re still dropping your elbow there. Please repeat the kata we worked on earlier ten more times before attempting this series again. Now, begin…”

Four years later, and he’s  _ still _ playing catch up. It sort of sucks.

Anakin sits up and groans. He didn’t even know he  _ had _ muscles there—of course, if he tells Obi-Wan that, it’ll mean extra human and near-human anatomy lessons. Anakin doesn’t know if new types of soreness means he’s doing something right in practice, or if he's doing something really wrong.

The common area is quiet when he stumbles out of his room a few minutes later, still pulling his tunic over his head.

“Obi-Wan—” he starts, then pops his head through the collar and stops. Obi-Wan is nowhere to be found.

Huh.

Anakin pokes his head into the shared ‘fresher, but he’s not in there, either.

Maybe he already left for the day. Important meetings to attend, whole planets to save, that sort of thing. What’s one measly padawan and their breakfast ritual compared to that?

(Look, he’s only a  _ little _ bitter that Obi-Wan still goes on missions without him sometimes. He’s  _ thirteen _ . He can handle it—whatever  _ it _ is—because Obi-Wan needs backup, and no one can look out for him like Anakin will.)

But that’s unfair and he knows it. Obi-Wan  _ never _ leaves without at least waking Anakin up to inform him and say goodbye, unless he absolutely has to, and even then he always writes a note and places it in a spot where Anakin can’t miss it.

There’s no note.

That means…

He turns to face Obi-Wan’s closed door and squares his shoulders. If this was an opponent in the sparring ring, he’d (mostly (probably)) know what to do. But there’s nothing for him to fight.

It’s a Bad Day. And there’s only one thing that can combat a Bad Day: rest.

Rest, and tea.

Anakin can’t remember the first time he was really  _ aware _ of Obi-Wan going through one of his Bad Days. In all of the chaos that followed Naboo and its aftermath—Mr. Qui-Gon’s death, Obi-Wan becoming a knight, Anakin becoming a padawan—it was relatively easy for Obi-Wan to hide it, especially because Anakin was just a kid who was trying to learn how to be a Jedi and live on a cold planet and all that.

At least, it was easy for him to hide it at first.

But Anakin remembers days when Obi-Wan would squint at any bright light and flinch at loud noises. On those days, he asked Anakin to focus on his lessons and,  _ please, little one,  _ not to talk so loud.

And then Anakin met Bant Eerin.

Once, when he was ten and had been at the Temple for nearly a year, he woke up to find Obi-Wan’s door was locked. He  _ never _ locked it.

The door chime rang.

With an apprehensive look at Obi-Wan’s door, Anakin went to answer it. On the other side, he found a Mon Cal with bright orange skin.

“Hello,” she said, smiling at him, “you must be Anakin. It’s nice to meet you at last. I’m Bant.”

Anakin had recognized the name from some of Obi-Wan’s stories about his own padawan days. He’d let her in and watched as she walked to the closed door and said softly, “Obi? It’s Bant. Can I come in?”

Later, after she'd emerged, she sat him down and told him all about Obi-Wan’s headaches, and how sometimes they got so bad he could barely move. Those were called Bad Days, ever since they were kids, and even now, if Anakin ever needed help with helping Obi-Wan, he could always call Bant. If she was on planet, she’d come. 

And then, she showed him how to make the perfect cup of tea.

Ten minutes after first emerging from his room, Anakin once more faces off against Obi-Wan’s door, this time with a cup of tea held firmly in one hand.

He knocks gently.

“Obi-Wan?”

Nothing from the other side of the door, except for Obi-Wan himself, his presence in the Force so faint Anakin has to strain his senses to feel it. Maybe he’s sleeping; Anakin probably shouldn’t disturb him, in that case.

If he is sleeping, though, Anakin can leave the tea, and Obi-Wan will see it when he wakes and know that Anakin was thinking of him. And it’s not like he has any lessons today, so he can’t get in trouble for skipping to help Obi-Wan feel better.

He can always make another cup of tea, especially if it means Obi-Wan knows Anakin is here.

Anakin presses the door controls and it slides back into the wall, revealing the sunlight interior of Obi-Wan’s room. He frowns. The curtains should be closed; this isn’t going to improve Obi-Wan’s headache at all.

He steps inside and closes the door before moving to place the tea on the nightstand, which, unlike Anakin’s own, is spotless. He winces when he sees the chrono; it’s already mid-morning and they’ve both overslept, though only Obi-Wan has an excuse for doing so.

The controls for the window shades are missing, and Anakin realizes that must be why it’s so bright. On Bad Days, Obi-Wan has trouble accessing the Force, so he wouldn’t be able to close the blinds that way. With the controls missing, Obi-Wan was stuck like this.

Well. That’s something Anakin can fix right away.

It takes some hunting, but eventually he finds the little remote wedged under one of the datapads stacked on the window sill. He closes the blinds, then places the controls on the table so they’ll be within easy reach for Obi-Wan once he wakes up.

Anakin glances at the bed again, but besides some general rustling from that direction when he got too loud during his search, there’s no sign that Obi-Wan plans on becoming anything other than a lump under the covers anytime soon.

That’s alright. He can take his time today.

Anakin isn’t really hungry yet, and there’s nothing much to eat in their little kitchenette anyway. Instead, he tries to carry on their  _ other _ , much hated (at least on his part) ritual.

He walks over to the mat laid out by Obi-Wan's window, and tries to meditate.

Even after four years, he doesn’t really  _ understand _ meditation. Obi-Wan always says to keep his mind clear and still, otherwise it won’t work, but Anakin can never seem to keep every little thought from running through his head.

...Like right now, for example.

He shakes his head and refocuses on Obi-Wan’s Force signature. This close, he can feel the tiny waves of pain radiating off of him and knows he must be keeping the rest locked up tightly within him. Anakin wishes Obi-Wan didn’t think that was necessary; after all, the Order teaches to release emotions and feelings into the Force.

There’s nothing he can do about that right now, though. Instead, Anakin breathes in, and out, and in—and tries to make himself feel the way his mom would, when he was little and had hurt himself. Calm and soothing and—most importantly, as he’s learned from his time helping out in the crèches—like nothing is wrong in the entire galaxy.

In, and out, and in, and out— _ everything is okay, you are okay— _ in, and out, and in…

Anakin jerks upright and into full awareness. Where—? Right, he’s in Obi-Wan’s room. He’d been trying to meditate. He must’ve… dozed off.

He glances up and finds Obi-Wan propped up in bed with his hands folded neatly in his lap, staring at Anakin in amusement.

“Hello, Master,” Anakin says, careful to keep his voice low.

Obi-Wan pulls a face and reaches a hand up to rub at his forehead. “Anakin, what’ve I told you about calling me Master?”

“To not to,” Anakin replies. Despite himself, and despite all of the times it’s been confirmed over the years, he still can’t help the rush of relief at knowing that Obi-Wan doesn’t want Anakin to call him  _ Master. _ It’s why—or, well, one of the reasons, anyway—Obi-Wan is the best teacher Anakin could ask for, no matter how often he complains.

“I just thought,” Anakin continues slyly, “that I’d show some respect, in case this is the time you finally kick the bucket, old man.”

Obi-Wan snorts and Anakin tries not to preen. He bets none of the other padawans have teachers as cool as Obi-Wan, no matter how awesome all of the Jedi in the Temple are.

Obi-Wan’s expression becomes more somber as he glances at the nightstand, where the tea still sits, no longer steaming.

“I’m afraid I slept too long,” he says regretfully. “The tea has gone cold.”

“That’s alright!” Anakin says, and frowns when he sees Obi-Wan flinch. Oops, he’d forgotten about his volume again. “Sorry. I can make you some more though.”

Obi-Wan smiles. “That would be wonderful, Anakin, thank you. And then perhaps we can visit the commissary for… an early lunch, as it were.”

Anakin pushes upright and—topples over.

“Ow,” he says, face squished into the meditation mat. He rolls onto his side and catches Obi-Wan’s raised eyebrow. “My legs, uh, fell asleep.”

“I see,” Obi-Wan intones seriously. “Whatever shall we do?”

Anakin huffs. “Just—ow—give me a minute. They’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure,” Obi-Wan says, summoning a comlink into his hand. He gives Anakin a concerned once over. “We may have to operate. I’ll call Master Che at once.”

“No!” Anakin can’t stop himself from giggling as he tries to push himself upright again. This time he succeeds. “I’m up! See, I’m up!”

Obi-Wan smiles at him and places his comlink aside. “Yes, I see.”

Then he stands and walks—a bit slower than normal but without any assistance, that’s really good on top of the jokes and the use of the Force—over to Anakin, holding out a hand to help him up. Anakin accepts and grins up at Obi-Wan once he’s standing.

“My,” Obi-Wan murmurs, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Soon enough you’ll be taller than me, young one.”

Anakin rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling.

“C’mon, Obi-Wan,” he says, starting toward the door. “Let’s get you some tea.”

Obi-Wan’s hand doesn’t budge from his shoulder, and Anakin turns back to look at him.

“Thank you, padawan mine,” Obi-Wan says, face serious again. This time, he isn’t joking. “I fear, sometimes, that you have been saddled with me unfairly—”

Anakin hugs him before he even finishes his sentence.

“Don’t say that,” he whispers fiercely into Obi-Wan’s sleep shirt. He pulls back to look Obi-Wan in the eye. “You’re the best Jedi  _ ever _ , better even than Yoda. If the Council called me right now, and said I could pick _anyone_ in the Order, I would still pick you. You’re a better teacher for me than anyone else.”

Obi-Wan places one hand in Anakin’s hair and ruffles it lightly, his eyes shining a little. Maybe his light sensitivity is bothering him still; Anakin should make sure the common area isn’t too bright for him once they’re out there.

“And you are undoubtedly the best padawan I could ever ask for,” Obi-Wan tells him. Anakin doesn’t doubt him for a second. “Now, tea?”

They walk out into the common area, the cold cup of tea still on the nightstand, entirely forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they lived happily ever after and nothing bad happened to them ever again.
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and kudos are always appreciated but never required.


End file.
